Maxim the Greek

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Maxim the Greek

Maxim the Greek ( Greek Μάξιμος ὁ Γραικός , Russian : Максим Грек, maiden name Michail Trivolis , Μιχαήλ Τρίβολης , * around 1470 in Arta , Greece; † January 21, 1556 in Sergijew Possad , translator and monk writer) was a Greek writer and writer. He is a saint of the Orthodox Church.

Life

Trivolis came from an aristocratic Albanian family and received a high level of education. He graduated from school in Corfu . At the age of about 20 he moved to Italy to study ancient languages ​​and to pursue philosophical studies. There he was influenced by humanists like Aldo Manuzio . In Florence he heard Savonarola preach. In 1507 he returned to Greece from Italy and entered a monastery on Mount Athos , where he took the religious name Maxim . In 1517 he received a call from Grand Duke Vasily III.who was looking for translators to improve and multiply the Russian liturgical books. Maxim, who did not yet speak Russian, took up residence in Moscow in 1518 . However, because of the translation work, he soon came into conflict with the Metropolitan Daniel († 1539), who had him convicted as a heretic by a synod in 1525 and placed in custody. By rejecting the second marriage of the Grand Duke, Maxim also drew his enmity and the enmity of his wife, the later regent Helena Glinskaja , and was convicted again in 1531. The years 1525 to 1556 he spent mostly in captivity in changing monasteries. Maxim died in Sergiev Posad's Trinity Monastery .

Maxim the Greek is one of the personalities of Russian history who are depicted on the national monument Thousand Years of Russia, completed in 1862 in the Novgorod Kremlin .

literature

  • Friedrich Otto: Textbook of Russian Literature. Eduard Frantzen's Buchhandlung, Leipzig et al. 1837, pp. 217-218 .
  • Jack V. Haney: From Italy to Muscovy. The Life and Works of Maxim the Greek (= Humanist Library. Texts and Treatises. Series 1: Treatises. 19, ZDB -ID 515680-4 ). Wilhelm Fink, Munich, 1973, (also: Oxford, University, dissertation, 1970).

Web links

Commons : Maxim Grek  - collection of images, videos and audio files


personal data
SURNAME Maxim the Greek
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Trivolis, Michai; Μιχαήλ Τρίβολης; Μάξιμος ὁ Γραικός; Максим Грек
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek monk, translator and saint of the Orthodox Church
DATE OF BIRTH around 1470
PLACE OF BIRTH Arta (Greece)
DATE OF DEATH January 21, 1556
Place of death Sergiev Posad